You might wonder at my reasoning when I gave 5 stars for the story, 5 stars for the performance, but only 3 stars for overall. The story was a great story and it was very well told and Lou Diamond Phillips did a fabulous job with the narration. My problem comes from the fact that for a Clancy novel it just doesn't measure up with some of his greats like; The Sum of All Fears, The Bear and the Dragon, Debt of Honor or Executive Orders. The fact is that if Clancy's name hadn't been on the front cover of this book my expectations wouldn't have been as high as they were so consequently I wouldn't have felt any let down and the book would have gotten a higher overall rating from me. It's a shame that the last Clancy / Ryan book couldn't have been his best but the fact is that after The Bear and the Dragon Clancy never again hit his stride with the notable exception of Red Rabbit. I will morn the loss of a writer of Clancy's caliber there are none better and in fact I can't think of any as good as Clancy at his peak. Still if you don't approach this book with the expectation of Clancy at the top of his game this is an excellent book and well worth the credit and the time. Rest in Peace Mr. Clancy

Sycamore Row

Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one. Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten, will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his black maid, and Jake into a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one of Ford County's most notorious citizens, just three years earlier. The second will raises far more questions than it answers. Why would Hubbard leave nearly all of his fortune to his maid? Had chemotherapy and painkillers affected his ability to think clearly?

A Time to Kill is another of those books that captured my imagination and wouldn't let go when I first read it all those years ago. Over the years I have returned to A Time to Kill several times to read or listened to it again. In case you might be wondering I will listen to and or read A Time to Kill again. So you might not be all that surprised when you learn that when I learned that Sycamore Row would be the squeal to A Time to Kill I got excited...... no I got really excited. Sycamore Row didn't let me down as it is worthy of both A Time to Kill and John Grisham. What I didn't know and didn't expect was that Sycamore Row went back and touched the story in The Last Juror and also filled in a little of the "pre-story" from The Summons. I didn't catch any references to The Chamber, but when I listen to this book again, and I will, I'll be paying attention for references to The Chamber. Now I'll have to go back and listen to Ford County again looking for people, events or other things that found their way into Sycamore Row. John Grisham can be counted on for great books and Sycamore Row is another.

The Witness

Daughter of a cold, controlling mother and an anonymous donor, studious, obedient Elizabeth finally let loose one night, drinking too much at a nightclub and allowing a strange man’s seductive Russian accent to lure her to a house on Lake Shore Drive. The events that followed changed her life forever. Twelve years later, the woman now known as Abigail Lowery lives alone on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks. A freelance programmer, she works at home designing sophisticated security systems.

I consider myself to be fortunate because I am able to enjoy a book or a movie more than once. That doesn't hold true with every book I've ever read (or listened to) or movie I've ever watched, but it is true for this book. If I were to be asked what I liked about this book I would probably say the humor. Actually I don't know if Roberts wanted me to laugh at the scenes that I laugh at but there a few scenes in this book that even after having listened to this book again and again and even again I don't merely laugh, I howl with laughter. Another of the things that I enjoy about this book is the characters. Elizabeth / Abigail is a great character as are Brooks and Sunny. I was also very impressed with the story that Roberts moved these characters through and I really liked the way the good guys foiled the bad guys. I gave this book five stars because I couldn't give it six stars.

North and South: North and South Trilogy, Book 1

Two strangers, young men from Pennsylvania and South Carolina, meet on the way to West Point.... Thus begins this brilliant novel of antebellum America, spanning three generations and chronicling the lives and loves of two great family dynasties. The Hazards and the Mains are brought together in bonds of friendship and affection that neither jealousy nor violence can shatter - until a storm of events sunders the nation and brings the cataclysm of war!

I first read this book decades ago and enjoyed it immensily. I also watched the mini series and enjoyed that immensly as well. Now finally someone has introduced an unabridged audio version of it, I'm thrilled. Having read the other reviews of this book I have to agree that this book is a classic. Actually it is an epic classic especially when considered with the other two books in this series. Jakes does a fabulous job of fictionalising historical events as this book and the two that follow it so apetly demonstrate. The narrator isn't bad, but he isn't good enough to do these books justice, although to be honest I'm not sure who would be. One of the other reviewers compared this book or series with the Winds of War - War and Rememberance series. He was right on the mark like taht series this series is also epic.

Dead or Alive

Jack Ryan, the former president of the United States, is out of office, but not out of the loop about his brainchild, the “Campus” - a highly effective, counter-terrorism organization that operates outside the Washington hierarchy. But what Ryan doesn’t know is that his son, Jack Ryan, Jr., has joined his cousins, Brian and Dominic Caruso, at the shadowy Campus. While a highly effective analyst, young Ryan hungers for the action of a field agent.

Tom Clancy hit his stride with books like; The Sum of All Fears, Debt of Honor and The Bear and the Dragon. He slipped a little with Red Rabbit and then hit bottom with The Teeth Of The Tiger. Several years passed between The Teeth Of The Tiger and Dead Or Alive and of course this book was written in collaboration with Grant Blackwood. The last book Mr. Clancy wrote with a co-author was Red Storm Rising which he wrote with Larry Bond. You might notice that I haven't mentioned any of the Op Center books. The reason for that is that Tom Clancy didn't write them, when you see one of these books in a book store it says created by Tom Clancy. Back to Dead or Alive, Dead or Alive is by far a vast improvement over The Teeth of The Tiger but it is by no means up to par with books like The Sum of All Fears or The Bear and The Dragon nor does it compare favorably with Red Storm Rising. Having said all of that it is an excellent book its just that with the name Tom Clancy on the cover I expect more than this book delivers. Lou Diamond Phillips dose a great job with the narration.

Black Cross

It is January 1944 - and as Allied troops prepare for D day, Nazi scientists develop a toxic nerve gas that will repel and wipe out any invasion force. To salvage the planned assault, two vastly different but equally determined men are sent to infiltrate the secret concentration camp where the poison gas is being perfected on human subjects. Their only objective: destroy all traces of the gas and the men who created it - no matter how many lives may be lost...including their own.

Jim &#34;The Impatient&#34; says:"They Might Be Scum, But they were German Scum"

It seems to me that every time I read (listen to) a book by Greg Iles I'm struck by his genius. I've read a number of books about World War II and or the holocaust. This one stands out as one of the best. Of course I know that World War II and and the holocaust actually occurred. I don't know if the Nazi's were planning to combat the allied invasion of Europe, but I do know that they did invent nerve gas. I also know that nerve gas is the most toxic of all the chemical weapons available just as it was during World War II. In this book Greg Iles inserts his characters into a historical setting with an imaginative plot. Listening to this book requires more than a little concentration and still I think it will take more than one listen to get everything out of this book so I'll absolutely be listening to this book again.

The Black Box: Harry Bosch, Book 18

In a case that spans 20 years, Harry Bosch links the bullet from a recent crime to a file from 1992, the killing of a young female photographer during the L.A. riots. Harry originally investigated the murder, but it was then handed off to the Riot Crimes Task Force and never solved. Now Bosch's ballistics match indicates that her death was not random violence, but something more personal, and connected to a deeper intrigue. Like an investigator combing through the wreckage after a plane crash, Bosch searches for the "black box", the one piece of evidence that will pull the case together.

Once again Audible has made it possible for me to listen to the newest release from one of my favorite authors almost before the ink has dried on the pages of this great book. Michael Connelly has a habit of turning out these excellent books featuring Harry Bosch and mores the good fortune it doesn't look like he's about to stop. In this book Connelly uses actual historical events to set up an imaginative scenario for a story that he goes on to tell in his usual superlative manner. Once I started listening to this book, that was it, there was no way I could have possibly have stopped before I got to the very end. It seemed to me that Connelly is really beginning to develop Maddie Bosch's personality while at the same time he keeps building the character of Harry Bosch. I can see at some time in the future Connelly putting out books featuring first Officer and then later on Detective Maddie Bosch, daughter of the legendary Detective Harry Bosch. Besides being an excellent book in and of itself The Black Box also does a great job of beginning to set that up. The only downside of this selection is having Michael McConnohie as the narrator. He isn't Harry Bosch, Len Cariou is.

Three Fates

When the Lusitania sank, more than one 1,000 people died. One passenger, however, survived to become a changed man, giving up his life as a petty thief but keeping a small silver statue that would become a family heirloom to future generations. Now, nearly a century later, that heirloom, one of a priceless, long-separated set of three, has been snatched away from the Sullivans.

Wrong question. It should will you listen to Three Fates again. The answer is yes. The reason is that it was an extremely enjoyable story and I believe that I'll get more out of it during subsequent listenings. While I don't listen to all of my audio books more than once I do listen to most of them more than once. Three Fated is a for sure re-listen-to audio book.

Which character – as performed by Bernadette Quigley – was your favorite?

I liked and enjoyed all of the characters in this book but I especially enjoyed Rebeca.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I liked when Rebeca was introduced to the old man that had been the little boy saved by her ancestor.

Any additional comments?

I have quite a few audio books that were written by Nora Roberts and I've enjoyed them all a lot, but this book stands out from the crowd. Additionally in my opinion Bernadette Quigley did a great job narrating this book. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone that enjoys this type of romantic thriller / suspense.

The Bear and the Dragon

Newly elected, Jack Ryan has found that being President is not easy: domestic pitfalls await him at every turn; there's a revolution in Liberia; the Asian economy is going down the tubes; and now, in Moscow, someone may have tried to assassinate the chairman of the SVR - the former KGB - with a rocket-propelled grenade. Were the potential assassins political enemies, the Russian Mafia, or disaffected former KGB? Or is something far more dangerous at work here?

This is such an excellent book. Tom Clancy has a real talent for story telling and in The Bear and The Dragon he show off his talent to an extreme degree. I rated the performance somewhat lower than the story and the overall. The reason for that is because of Micheal Prichard's dry style of delivery. Other than that the only problem with this book is that knowing Tom Clancy books this book is very predictable, absolutely no mystery. Still having said that it is great fun to root for the good guys knowing full well that they will meet with total success. So if you like real flag wavers then this book should please you.

Rainbow Six

Ex-Navy SEAL John Clark is the newly named head of Rainbow, an international task force dedicated to combating terrorism. In a trial by fire, he must stop a terrorist group of men and women so extreme that their success could literally mean the end of life on earth as we know it.

Tom Clancy is my favorite author and has been for a lot of years. Rainbow Six is not my favorite Clancy book. I like the fact that Clancy explains every detail of everything in his books. I like the action. I like the suspense. I can't really say why this this book doesn't excite me more than it does because I don't really don't know. This isn't a boring book, maybe it's that John Clark is too perfect.

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